A former local man was sentenced Tuesday to a further nine months in jail for his role in the theft of a pickup truck from Prince George, an attempted theft of a skid steer and trailer in Quesnel and a subsequent attempt to flee police.
Eric Joseph Heidemann, 24, was also issued a four-year driving prohibition for the May 30 incident that began when a sharp-eyed Mountie in an unmarked vehicle noticed a pickup truck with two different plates being driven erratically along Racing and Ryan Roads.
When she received confirmation the truck had been stolen from a Prince George home two nights before and that one of the missing plates had just been found, she went onto Ryan Road where she found Heidemann and Dale Allen West, 34, hooking a flatbed trailer carrying a skid steer onto the truck.
When they saw the RCMP member, the two got back into the truck with Heidemann behind the wheel, cut across a field and headed towards Highway 97.
Police eventually traced the truck to the parking lot at Cariboo Pulp on North Star Road in Quesnel and, after calling in a tracking dog, apprehended the two in a nearby wooded area.
Heidemann received bite wounds from the dog and no sympathy from provincial court judge Dan Weatherly, who noted Heidemann had a history of fleeing police.
Heidemann has remained in custody since then and in total was issued a 15-month term. Crown counsel was seeking two years in jail, based on the fact his most recent sentence previously was 18 months. Heidemann was on probation at the time, it was also noted.
Defence counsel argued for 10 months, noting the previous sentence was for more serious offences related to a November 2009 theft of firearms from an Ogilvie Street home and that West had received nine more months in jail when sentenced in early October for a total of 13 months less time served.
Heidemann's lawyer, Daniel Geller, said Heidemann had moved to Quesnel to get away from the people he was associating with in Prince George but somehow got involved in a string of crimes of opportunity with West, who lives in the Prince George area.
The theft of the pickup truck occurred from a Jensen Road home where they had found the vehicle with the keys in the ignition.
Geller had argued the length of the driving prohibition should be no more than three years because of the impact not having a driver's licence would have on finding a job once out of jail. But Weatherly noted three years is what Heidemann received the last time he was sentenced for a similar offence and did not appear to have learned from that.
"You have to get the message, sir, that you must stop for police," Weatherly told Heidemann.
